Culture matters. But for far too long, too many in the West have bought the lie that all cultures are equal and have accepted multiculturalism as an ideal to be pursued.

Multiculturalism is defined as the doctrine that multiple cultures, rather than a single national culture, can coexist peacefully and equitably in a single country.

On the surface, multiculturalism sounds appealing, but like socialism, it never produces the idealized result because it fundamentally denies the reality of human nature and, more importantly, ethical morality.

Proponents of multiculturalism see it as the solution to the scourge of racism that has plagued humanity since the dawn of time. And indeed, within the American context, where we are literally a nation composed of people who have come from different nations across the world, it would seem that multiculturalism is succeeding.

However, there is one glaring difference: the United States of America is a nation of people from multiple ethnic backgrounds who are united under a single national cultural ideal espoused by the Founding Fathers, as delineated in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

In brief, American culture rests on a foundation built on a Judeo-Christian ethic, which recognizes and prizes the fundamental perspective that all men are created equal. They all reflect the image of God and, therefore, are inherently endowed with certain inalienable rights, including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

This forms the bedrock of American culture. And it has often been observed that what the Founders meant by Liberty was not absolute autonomy of the individual to do whatever they pleased, but rather the freedom of the individual to pursue happiness, restrained and directed by a shared Judeo-Christian morality.

This morality is only possible when defined by a commonly held set of social values, which is the essence of culture. Therefore, culture is best identified not by skin color or ethnic background but by a shared set of values and practices, which includes views on ethical behavior.

This is why multiculturalism, like socialism, is impossible. It embraces the lie that all cultures are equally valid, equally moral, and therefore equally deserving of respect and acceptance. Multiculturalism conflates culture with ethnicity or race, thereby convincing people of its “goodness” or “justice,” because opposing it would be to engage in racism.

Multiculturalism falsely presumes that, due to the common dignity of mankind that transcends all racial differences and distinctions, this also applies to culture. Yet culture is inherently more rooted in the expression of ideological beliefs, views, and values than in psychological distinctions. The error of racism at its core is similarly this identifying of physiology as culture.

The irony of multiculturalism is that in supposedly seeking to fight against racism, it actually promotes it because it conflates culture with race or ethnicity.

The recently reported fraud scandal involving Somalis in Minnesota exposes the fallacy of multiculturalism. Because of the multicultural doctrine that all cultures are equal, it is presumed that when two cultures are combined, they will simply get along because they share the same values.

Thus, when the criminality of fraud is found to be rampant among Somalis in Minnesota, leftist Democrats, who have bought into multiculturalism, respond by crying racism against those who have dared to point out the glaring cultural problem, rather than recognizing and decrying the serious cultural value problem within the Somali community that is incongruent with American culture. Theft is not an acceptable value within the American culture, full stop.

Thus, when its widespread existence and acceptance are exposed within Somali culture, this should result in both condemnation of Somalis’ failure to assimilate and demands that they do so.

They freely sought to immigrate to the U.S.; therefore, they are obligated to integrate, which includes embracing our American cultural values and discarding any of the Somali values that run counter to them. In so doing, they become Americans. Anything else is unacceptable.

Consider an analogy. If one wants to play in a sport with others, one must accept and play by the rules of that sport. If one does not like some of the rules in the sport, that person is not free to break them and still demand equal opportunity to play the sport. They either agree to the rules or they are not allowed to play. Even more so with some immigrants, it’s the difference between football and fútbol — they’re not even the same sport.

Unfortunately, this simple logic has escaped too many Americans when it comes to immigration. Assimilation should not be viewed as optional or even problematic; rather, it should be held as the bare minimum expectation and requirement for any foreign person seeking to become a naturalized American citizen. Multiculturalism attacks this core principle, and the result is the Somali fraud scandal we are witnessing in Minnesota and beyond.